Rogue's Tale is a single player turn-based dungeon crawling game. The game takes place in a place called Frostmourn Keep and its underlying dungeons located in the World's End Mountains. The goal is to overthrow the current king of the Frostmourn Keep and become the new king.

Buy Rogue's Tale

March 7

Win 8 tablet support adds a user interface that can be used with a touch screen to play the game.

Casual difficulty level, or "Please don't hurt me!" as it is named in-game, is a game mode where the player selects a class and starts the game with class specific talents, spells and equipment. In addition to being equipped from the beginning, the overall difficulty is toned down as enemies are progressively weaker, traps do less damage and unidentified items can be sold.

Crafting adds superior items and consistency of obtaining them over several playthroughs. There's a random number of crafting materials available at the beginning of each game that allows the player to craft a few items after raising some gold.

There's also some bug fixes and usability improvements, and full list of changes can be seen when you start the game.

About This Game

Rogue's Tale is a single player turn-based dungeon crawling game.

The game takes place in a place called Frostmourn Keep and its underlying dungeons located in the World's End Mountains. The goal is to overthrow the current king of the Frostmourn Keep and become the new king.

Classless character building where you can be the kind of rogue you want.

Seemingly unfair, untimely and unforgiving deaths which are also permanent.

Oh Jesus Christ, where do I start.The learning curve caps relatively early (15 hours in I learned all the tricks and neat strats alone. 35? Went online and ♥♥♥♥. Found out more.)After the learning curve caps out, then it's the RNG grinding. There's not too much you can do to manipulate the game in your favor with the equipment you have to make a really distinctive difference. And it sucks. It takes a lot of control out of the player's hands and it feels really sloppy to scoop up anything beyond a kill in a 2 v 1 fight. Either you win or you don't. And it's seldom close.

You need to grind for more starting equipment. Prodegies. Traits. It's really cruel and unusual. It's basically telling the gamer you aren't meant to play this for the first time and win. Ever. See; ToME, NetHack, Stone Soup. Roguelikes where every class comes at face value and you CAN potentially GG with ALL of them. It takes a lot out of you.

Leveling up is a curse and you actually literally need Woof to potentially win the game. Enemies scale with your level. Equipment drops stay relatively the same. It really, really sucks. Woof, on the other hand, can be at level 20, while you coast at level 2. It's really needed for early/mid gaming where you can stall levels with your dog.

I wouldn't dare recommend it to anyone. It's ♥♥♥♥ing suicide. It's a good price? It's very challenging? I've obviously sunk a lot of hours into it but I'm not. It's. No.

EDIT:: Y'all can't sit here and seriously blame people who "just aren't hxc roguelike fans". ♥♥♥♥ing Dungeon Crawl wouldn't do some ♥♥♥♥ like this and it's damn hard for all the right reasons.

There's roguelikes, and then there's this. This isn't standard roguelike formula. This is hell.

tl;dr: Get one of the games listed below instead, unless you know what you do when you buy a "real Rogue" game - endless frustration.

Positive:

Compared to many other rogue-like or rogue-lite dungeon crawlers, the graphics are nice.

Dying and creation of the next adventurer is fast. With each adventurer dying within 30 seconds to five minutes, this is a positive aspect.

There are many extras in the game, like gaining equipment for later characters through exploration.

Using other monsters to your advantage is sometimes possible.

This is a true recreation of the Rogue game of 1980 with modern graphics.

This game is for hardcore gamers, those who like getting their teeth pulled without anesthetics, because it is badass. :)

Still, if you want to have fun playing games, I suggest to play any of these games instead - from casual to more hardcore:

Claustrophobia: The Downward Struggle

Sword of the Stars: The Pit

Tales of Maj'Eyal

Darkest Dungeon

Why do I suggest these games, instead of Rogue's Tale? Any of these games will give you a feeling that you survived the last encounter (or did not) because of choices you made. In Rogue's Tale you realize each time something happens that you won or lost because of the random number generator - your decisions do not matter. Toss a coin instead - on tails you lose.

It felt to me like playing an old buggy version of Rogue where the end boss can spawn one step from you when you enter the dungeon. Monsters, loot and interactable objects seem to be generated completely randomly. You do not survive or die because you made the right decisions, you do so because you had a lucky or unlucky roll. As Rogue's Tale's environment is mostly open areas (not narrow tunnels or small interconnected rooms), you can rarely use the environment to your advantage.

Using other monsters to your advantage is sometimes possible. Creatures who are usually docile may attack your opponent if you lead him to them. Unfortunately some of your opponents will be of the invincible kind, so that they decimate the complete level, including you, without losing one hitpoint.

This is how my playthrough for the first ten adventurers went:

Some died to an invisible spike trap after a few steps.

Some were slaughtered by the first brigand they encountered after a few steps.

Some of them actually found weapons and armor immediately after entering the dungeon, getting them equipped just fine - and died to three opponents attacking simultaneously two minutes later.

A few more tests showed a complete dependency on the game's random number generator, instead of modern game design. It is truly a recreation of the 1980ies Rogue-type games. Suffer, player! :)

In my eyes, the game's major flaw is that it is Rogue. You will die because of the flip of a coin, after a few seconds or minutes.

First game took me around ~20 seconds - wow i was killed by big spider, such unfair ... i have to write a review about it

Second game - Oh my god i killed snail, and found a leather cap ! OMG !! >>> Was killed by trap few secs later ... ( wow now i know how to detect traps cool )

Third game - wow i spawned at room with magic chest full of loot ! I got three shields, badass club, two armors, killed six snails, spend my first talent, ascended by ladder down and .... was killed by stupid wolf ...

Forth game - i killed big fakin ORC , still alive, this game is AWESOME >>> Was killed later by ??? , then realised that undefined amulet i was wearing killed me

SImillar game: Sword of the stars: the pit

This kind of games isnt for everyone, but if you like roguelike games or any other oldschool ( and hard ) games u should buy this and give it a shot.

I had to take the time to write this review, as i played this games for a few years now.Great roguelike game, and getting better with updates.

Your simple goal is to become the King, by defeating the old one.The current king is announced at the start of the game, and is the player who last claimed the crown.

There are no classes, you can develop your character as you like. There are different talents, and you control your 4 base stats to improve you character the way you choose. Dungeons are random, with some pre-generated ones, so games are always different. And after you complete the dungeon, one way or another, you can reset it, and adventure more. There are no limit on resetting dungeons, so you can explore until you challenge the king, or die.

Frustratingly hard, until you get the hang of the game mechanics and ways to counter enemies,death is lurking around every corner! And after, too... You really need to think your next move when in tight spot, if you want to get out of it alive. Death is permanent, unless you have a certain amulet, in which case you might get a second change ..=) The basic game is simple, but has surprising depth as the game has "heritages" to unlock, making the game a little bit of easier as you unlock them, as once you unlock them you can use them in later games.

Overall, personally i have spent countless of hours trying to learn from thousands of deaths, and even succeeded in thinking before acting. And, ive yet to achieve the crown, despite hard trying. This next game Im gonna get there..! Really a good game, if you like a challenge.

Besides, in the coming update, there should be an easier difficulty level for those learning the game, wanting more casual experience, or not just man enough to handle the game. Good job!maybe the easier setting takes out those nasty bad reviews telling the game is too hard....

I really recommend it, best roguelikes ive played. If you got the stomach for it, its hard as hell for beginners, and youll die a thousand deaths =)

Maddening, frustrating, and hard to put down, Rogue's Tale is a punishing roguelike in every sense of the word.

"Unfair" might get thrown around. It might feel like it is, at first, when you basically start with nothing but a stick. But as you slowly (very slowly) gain progression: a potion here, a starting piece of armor here, and you start to learn the extreme subtleties of the game, it begins to really shine.

I never beat the game. I only even challenged the final boss once (and wasn't even remotely prepared). I haven't played it in months, but I still think about it. I think about runs I got cocky in, thinking I was overpowered, and paid for the sin of it. I think about one run where I started and died within 2 steps from a boulder. I think about runs where... so many runs. So many deaths.

I understand the mixed reviews. This is a game you really have to play a lot (and I mean a lot) to get why it's actually pretty good.

tl;dr: An attractive, straight-forward, god-awful hard roguelike that is worth the price.

The game's pretty straight forward: You roll a character in no time, enter the randomly-generated dungeon, desperately try to find enough equipment and critical skills to survive, then you're poisoned by a spider, burnt by an imp, crushed by a falling rock, drowned, or just plain run through. There are many ways to die in this game, and you will experience them all, over and over. Pro tip: Don't put too much thought into naming your characters.

All right, well beyond that there's side-quests, a variety of skills and spells, newly-introduced crafing, and a final boss if you're so lucky, but if you buy this game really you're buying it to die over and over. It can be quite frustrating, and like a classic rogue your death can be well-deserved, or entirely unfair. Yet I found myself coming back to this game more than the more complex ToME, Dredmor, or other rogue-likes for its simplicity and purity. Each fight is a battle of life or death, each choice is agonizing, and that's all there is to it. Pure masochism, really.

The game is, basically, too hard. You'll be lucky to see half the content, but for the money Rogue's Tale is an attractive, simple, classic rogue-like.

There is hectic ton of bad reviews for that game , and chances are, you may join their ranks after playing.

That's Roguelike game. It's not genre for everyone . You will need alot of devotion to actually try to get in and win...but when you will win... it will be best thing ever. As from personal point of view I think this game is relatively easy and good point to get aknowledged with rogue like's. After you're done with it (and it will take 15-50 hours for 1rst time) you can move on to things like Dungeon Crawl : Stone Soup and etc. (i'd strongly recommend Stone Soup as another good game for newcommers). If you can't...well...heh , you're either VERY UNLUCKY (consider halt in gaming where there is any chance inolved) or just DON"T WANT TO (and I can't blame you , as I said , it's genre for dedicated masochists).

This is a true roguelike, albiet a bit distilled to its fundimentals. Yet its done so in a great way. The game is incredibly simple, but also incredibly hard. All my time invested, still yet to be victorious! Damnit!, ♥♥♥♥!, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! How the ♥♥♥♥!?! You will be sayin all those things and more. Play this game and see what brutal truely means! By the way I oh so recommend this game!

Seeing that quite some of the bad reviews missed some central points, I kinda felt the need to drop one myself! Sorry ´bout that.Actually, the mere fact that, while having lots of arguably good "big" games, I keep coming back to this one should say it all. The "Rogue-like"-Tag on a game is tantalizing to me. And the more down-to-the-core-Rogue-like it is, the more I like the game. Only regrettable feature would be ASCII-graphics ;) And these games tend to be hard. Very hard. The kind of hard that the majority of younger people can´t cope with, maybe? The Generation WoW: clicky, blingy , levelup..! I don´t know. I know, that back as a kid in the former GDR, I "played" Bards Tale on a C64, hundreds of hours, without even knowing what an RPG is. No Internet, Nobody to ask... I believe that this is the reason for the success of, say, Dark Souls. It´s so hard, that winning something is actually rewarding again! And that feels good.

And I like Rogue´s Tale! You have to know that it´s hard and random. But that also means the very next item can be that difference-making blessed Ring of Something... You do die, and sometimes cheaper by the Dozen, but hey, it´s hard! But over time, you learn various ways of shaping chances in your favour. If you play it like an generic japanese RPG, then you are bound to fail early and often. It´s a turn-based game, every turn you can make the best decision based on stats and inventory. Most of my (hundreds of) deaths were avoidable in hindsight.

In short, if you like the concept of rogue-likes, maybe played NetHack and the like, or if you like challenging games, then this one´s well worth a try. For people who enjoy games that splash you with levelup from the start, you might find this game, ahm, ...unrewarding, which is great irony in itself!

basicly everything is running on random generators, and its truly unforgiving.

You can spawn right next to a creature that will kill you in one blow, and you will have no options what so ever of winning,or you can have 5 levels of harmless Ooze and it will feel like a walk in the park.

More of an arcade style dungeon crawler, than an RPG dungeon crawler, but the random generator makes every playthrough feel like opening a chest.

Roguelikes (or at least roguelites) on Steam are almost a dime a dozen nowadays. What exactly sets Rogue's Tale apart from the heavyweight in this category on Steam - Dungeons of Dredmor? Honestly…. not much. If you want an in-depth experience with multitudes of classes, skills, and items types, don't look here. Rogue's Tale is, simply put, a roguelike distilled to the genres' simplest concepts:

There's no crafting, only a small number of different basic item types, and essentially only three different archetypes you can play with the limited number of skill choices in the game - mage, fighter, and archer. Yet this simplicity is a large part of what makes this game so addictive. It's just so easy to walk through a dungeon, floor by floor, killing monsters and discovering treasures until you inevitably get killed by a lucky arrow or random spike trap. Just one more death until I sleep, I swear!

Seriously though, you will die in this game. And you will die a lot, often within 5 minutes of character creation. Don't expect any handholding, other than some sparse tutorial messages. Your deaths will be unfair. My record is actually a death within two turns, less than 10 seconds into the game. Human and humanoid NPCs in this game have similar stats, skills, and equipment as you, after all. The difference is the human controlling your character. Thus, the only way to improve is to master the game mechanics and unlock different heritages, skills and equipment that carry over to your future characters. At least until you get flattened by a cave bear.

As part of the challenge, nothing in this game is identified. Sometimes this is nice - you'll find that your sword is causing status effects on your enemies, for example. But other times it's just plain annoying. In most other games, you wouldn't think twice about drinking an unidentified potion if you're really in danger of dying. In this game, the potions are more likely to kill you than not - there are a total of 24 potions in this game, 5 of which are beneficial, 19 of which are poison. An additional problem with requiring identification is that storekeepers simply will not buy unidentified items from you. This is a severe disadvantage through your first couple of playthroughs before you unlock any heritages. It doesn't help that 90% of items you find will cost more to identify than how much you can sell them for.

There certainly are many complaints that I have with the game. Those aforementioned heritages are far too difficult to unlock after the first couple. Just an example - I played over 15 hours on a single character, grinding through dungeon after dungeon, before I was able to unlock the enchantment and ring heritages. Yes, everything is randomly generated, but it really should not take that long to unlock. It's extra difficult because the game does not give you a list of the items that you've already found or identified. So if you see a missing item in the town store or a travelling merchant, you may not know that you need to purchase that item. Frankly, this was the reason I got tired of the game. At some point (admittedly 40 hours into the game), you just feel like the rate of reward and advancement becomes far too slow.

The controls in this game are also pretty terrible and needlessly complicated. Different weapon types have different keys you need to press in order to attack with them. Controls that work in the equipment screen don't work in the shop screens. It seems like the only reason that this control scheme was used is to pay homage to the classics of this genre. There's honestly no reason otherwise.

I left this game a "recommanded" rating, but I would really only recommend it to people who enjoy playing punishing roguelikes. Everyone else, please stay far away. As the reviews on Hack, Slash, and Loot indicate, if you aren't looking for a game in this genre, you will not like this game.

Death Simulator 2000. I hate this game. I hate it with every fiber of my being. I die over and over again. Then, like a ray of hope, I start to progress. Level 6, then 7. Level 9.. could it be? Level 10. Fully geared. Reset the dungeon twice. Im finally making progress.

Then I open a door to 3 orcs and a wolf. Well, theres 2 hours of wasted progress.

Another dev mistakes randomness for difficulty. You'll be wasting hours dying trying until you will finally get some lucky streak. Absolutely no skill or strategy involved. Just roll the dice and 9 out of 10 times you die. And even if you're lucky to live more than 20 minutes you'll eventually will be killed by some unexpected thing that RNG will throw at you without any logic behind it.

Enjoy all the brutalizing by procs? This game is for you. Marvel at the game throwing an enemy at you on the second floor that kills you in two hits. Watch as the only way for you to progress is barred by a door in a narrow hallway with a deadly spike pit in front of it, creating a scenario where you actually can not succeed. Gaze in awe as the first mushroom you attempt to pluck poisons you, the poison being uncurable and lethal by normal means and forcing you to sell necessary provisions in order to cure it. It's a good thing that chance is such a big factor in this game that it renders most of the skills undesirable, seeing as how you will probably not find a bow, but will find lots of arrows.

Don't bother with this game, it's obnoxious to the point that it removes most of the fun, and it moves like mud, which is a feat for a roguelike. Yes, this game crawls at a crawl.

Clearly unfinished.

Addendum: I am still playing this game because I want to like it, and the MUD-like net play is really fun, but holy cow man, you really have to put it in for this one.

woah my first negative review ever. I wish the game had any subtlety, or an easy to acess which command = which action. Lets say the game is brutal, punishes you as far as one shotting you in the very first room, even in the turorial. Otherwise it just feels a bit pointless. Imagine a game like dwarf fortress adventure mode or ADOM, but stripped barebone and add a little better graphics. yeah.. What ends it for me is that the game is just too brutal and luck based, for whatever reward it gives. The stats are limited to +3 from the starting ones, which feels a bit..limiting considering the scope of a game and the customisation we wish to have, items are a lot more relevant than the rest. ive had only 1 good-lucky run because the only monsters i encountered were the harmless kind. 1 out of 12 runs was 'ok'. I spent hours to make it to level 5 that one time, and even then i was only able to identify 2 of my 12 items in my inventory (lack gold cant sell if not identified). all of which were basic item, nothing special but the amulets. Then i died trying to disarm a trap over and over but for some reasons it made me step on it instead of disarming it.. twice. the game is not BAD its just.. not good enough for me, sorry. Good first try from the producers though!

In my opinion while playing Rogue's Tale it always feels like your "tool-box" (the amount of options you have on hand to deal with a threatening situation) is extremely limited, and by design. Compared to say, "Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup", one of the titans of the rogue-like genera, the majority of early-game deaths in Rogue's Tale feel entirely unavoidable and down to the whims of the RNG. The game's item identification (ID) system is clunky and idiosyncratic; for example you might have ID'd a ring and then found another one just like it, and while the game will tell you it's the same ring the shopkeepers in the "Town" area will refuse to buy the second one because it has yet to be subjected to an ID effect. The bulk of items you pick up will ID as having no special effects, yet the shopkeepers will still refuse to buy them unless an ID has been attempted, meaning the majority of items cannot be sold for profit until you luck into a source of permanent IDing via a rare item drop.

The RNG seems extremely harsh given the fact that you often cannot escape from most bad situations; a newly reset dungeon whose first floor is several mages and archers will result in an unavoidable death, for example. I realize that harping on the RNG in a rogue-like seems counterproductive, but I think that it just doesn't stack up well when compared to other equally difficult yet more fair rogue-likes, such as the aforementioned Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. In DC:SS, scrolls do not require a specific skill in order to be read, meaning that it is a perfectly legitimate strategy to burn through un-ID'd scrolls in a pinch; the tactic is risky as you can cause bad effects, but it can also save you from an untimely early death. Similarly, given how much of the game is tied up in gold-use in the “Town” area, it seems weird that it's not possible to sell un-ID'd items, even if at a lower value.

Having said all that, if you are a massive rogue-like fan you might still derive some enjoyment out of Rogue's Tale. It probably won't compare very favourably to other titles in the genera, however, and if you aren't someone who has played rogue-likes before and are curious I'd recommend you give this one a pass in favour of a different title.

I’m usually pretty forgiving of games that are lacking in some areas, but all I can say about this one is please do not buy this game. The definition of a game should be to have fun, or at least enjoy the experience. From the moment you enter the dungeon, to the moment you finish the tutorial it is evident that this game lacks what it takes to be an enjoyable Rogue like experience.

Let me explain. I enter the new dungeon. I walk up to the first monster (a Snail). I attack it, it attacks back, I lose half my life. I kill said monster. I heal myself after resting. I take another step. A pit trap hits me. I die.

I go back into the dungeon. I go against a demon bat. It instantly kills me.

Back into the dungeon. I get a sword, a shield, and some sticks. (The whole time, mind you, I'm doing my search check to make sure I'm not walking toward a trap) I come across a water pit, no matter what I do to try and get out (resting, moving in different directions) of said pit I can't, and die.

Back into the dungeon again. Take 3 steps, giant dog attacks me. Hits me once, I die (keep in mind I have 8 points in stamina [the highest you can have at the start of the game]).

I proceed again into this frustrating experience. I'm blessed with a bit more items this go-around. I fight a few snails, and make it to the next level after having successfully emptied the first one. A priest, that hits me once, promptly greets me, and you guessed it I die.

Do this about 60 more times. Each time I’m making it anywhere from 5 steps into the dungeon, to maybe level 3. Each time dying because the game refuses to

1. Give you items that can take on high level creatures 2. Give you enough money to identify 1/10th of all the items in the game that ALL require identifying to know what they are at (such as rocks, mushrooms, arrows, bolts, weapons, armor) 20 gold a piece.3. Blows you up for looking at anything funny 4. Gives you dungeon levels that are so small that going down to the next level guarantees you’ll be under leveled, equipped, and prepared to take on anything that is waiting for you the second you go down the stairs.5. Refuses to give you loot on about 85% of all mobs you kill.

The list can go on and on, but I’ll make this a bit short. The game promises a challenging rogue like experience. I can indeed give you that. But there is a difference between a challenge, and the process of smashing ones head against a wall over and over again in hopes that at some point it won’t hurt anymore.

I must emphasis my warning as to why you should not buy this game. A good analogy would be the person that tastes something and realizes that it tastes REALLY bad, so they tell their friend “Man this tastes disgusting, want to try it?” and the friend says “OK”. The experience of someone else should count for something, and I must say this game isn’t a challenge, it’s a headache you give yourself after spending five dollars on it. Don’t waist your money. Unless the game designers want to adjust the size of the levels, the damage of the mobs, and the loot you get, I’d stay clear of this rogue like like the plague.

I’ll give them the graphics are decent, and that’s about as much of a positive I’ll throw their way. A game should not require you to do everything perfect, and also require you to have a greater than 80% luck ratio to succeed.Not what I call fun or enjoyable.